LoveReading Says
Author, Liam, researches the police force to write his novel from an officer’s point of view and ends up reluctantly becoming a policeman himself! His book fails. His next subject is based on a life-long friend, Aldo, an entrepreneur who is also a petty criminal just out of prison. The tale is told from both points of view.
It is a densely written, extraordinary tale of friendship, loss and failure. Reflecting on both their lives and loves, this linguistically brilliant tragic-comic novel must be read slowly, chewed over and inwardly digested. It is horrific, funny, emotional, disturbing, very clever and truly inspirational.
A long, sad tale of an optimist who bounces from one tragedy to the next, always believing that somewhere along the line he will make good. It is not an easy read, you must persevere, some will find it tough but if it is to your taste it is hugely rewarding.
Reviewed by Sarah BroadhurstSarah Broadhurst spent her early working life in the book trade in both retail and wholesale until the arrival of children forced her to look for freelance work she could do from…
More reviews by Sarah Broadhurst About Quicksand
'Why should I let you write about me?' 'Because you'll inspire people. To count their blessings.' Aldo Benjamin, relentlessly unlucky in every aspect of life, has always faced the future with despair and optimism in equal measure. His latest misfortune, though, may finally have brought him undone.
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Quicksand Synopsis
'Why should I let you write about me?' 'Because you'll inspire people. To count their blessings.' Aldo Benjamin, relentlessly unlucky in every aspect of life, has always faced the future with despair and optimism in equal measure. His latest misfortune, though, may finally have brought him undone.
There's still hope, but not for Aldo. His mate Liam hasn't been doing much better - a failed writer with a rocky marriage and a dangerous job he never wanted - until he finds inspiration in Aldo's exponential disaster. What begins as an attempt to document these improbable but inevitable experiences becomes a profound exploration of fate, fear and friendship.
Wildly entertaining and acutely insightful, Quicksand is a subversive portrait of 21st-century existence in all its hypocrisy and absurdity, an exquisite interpretation of suffering and resilience, and a compelling story about the taking of risks and the making of art. 'A wonderful achievement from a writer whose words serve as a scalpel to reveal the absurd beneath the veneer of serious existence.' Russell Prize for Humour Writing 'The energy, the hairpin turns, the narrative crashes, the stomach churning ascents and trashed taboos: what a joy to surrender oneself to a writer of such prodigious talent.' Peter Carey, Booker Prize-winning author 'The funniest novel of the past year . . .
Genuinely moving.' The Saturday Times (UK) 'Quicksand proves to be the cherry on the cake - a beguiling novel that confounds and astonishes in equal measure, often on the same page . . . Part Chuck Palahniuk, part David Foster Wallace . . . Quicksand has a thousand dazzling throwaway moments of brilliance . . .
A tour de force.' Australian Book Review
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Steve Toltz Press Reviews
'The energy, the hairpin turns, the narrative crashes, the stomach churning ascents and trashed taboos: what a joy to surrender oneself to a writer of such prodigious talent.' Peter Carey, twice Man Booker Prize-winner
'The funniest novel I've read in the last 12 months ... Genuinely moving.' The Times
'Quicksand is, if anything, even more hysterically funny [than A Fraction of the Whole] and quite, quite horrific ... Linguistically, Toltz manages to find the perfect if unlikely word or phrase faultlessly. It is very rare for me to laugh on almost every page of a book; it is even rarer for that to be accompanied by exquisite melancholy. Toltz is writing like very few other authors: he seems like an Antipodean Thomas Bernhard in his unsparing, agonising comedies. I hope it is not seven years until his next novel.' Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday
'Toltz is clearly talented, with a vivid satirical intelligence... tremendous.' The Sunday Times
'Leaves you almost breathless. There is more heart, and joy and compassion and hard-earned wisdom in Quicksand than seems possible for a single novel; it is life, literature at its fullest.' Dinaw Mengestu, winner of the Guardian First Book Award
'A book shot through with mordant humour and sizzling inventiveness... In Aldo, Toltz has created a magnificent character.' Financial Times
'A relentlessly garrulous tragicomic saga about friendship, failure, creativity and endurance that is both brilliant and exhausting... Even in a book overflowing with solipsists and monomaniacs, would-be artists and theories about art, it remains a creative force to be reckoned with.' Guardian
'Highly original, entertaining and almost impossible to summarize, this is a high-octane, adrenaline-fuelled, frenetic tour de force of sustained brilliance. There is with, laugh-out-loud humour and linguistic dexterity on almost every page.' Mail on Sunday
'Toltz is incapable of writing a dull sentence.' Daily Mail
About Steve Toltz
Steve Toltz was born in Sydney, Australia. A Fraction of the Whole, his first novel, was
released in 2008 to widespread critical acclaim. It was shortlisted for the 2008 Man
Booker Prize and the 2008 Guardian First Book Award. He currently lives in New York.
Author photo © Prudence Upton
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